4:15AM It only took 20 minutes or so to get to the airport and we left on time to go to Comoros at 7AM.
9AM We reach Comoros. I had to pay for the visa on arrival because the transit visa wouldn't allow me to leave the airport. The visa is 30 EUR or 50 USD. I exchanged my 70 EUR for 100 USD with 2 Americans. This basically reduced their loss to half and let me pocket 10 EUR myself.
10AM I bargained to get a cab to the Grand Mosque for 800 CMF or 2 USD. The driver dropped me by the Grand Mosque, which is not at all grand and then drove me to Le Coraya for lunch. I thought about getting the tuna for 6,500 CMF. I ended up switching to lobster for 10,000 CMF. The driver came back to fight about 2 USD to say that he misunderstood me and wanted 8 EUR. I let the fat Indian manager translate for me.
It wasn't totally resolved and I ran into another issue. Despite asking 3 times about using the credit card, the fat Indian manager is now saying he hasn't had a credit card machine for 2 years. I was getting into it with him. He wanted to exchange USD at 350 CMF for USD, making lunch 32 and rounding up to 33 USD. I offered him 30 USD and he said no. I told him to call the police and he tried to bluff and asked his employee to call. The driver signaled to me not to call the police since I was leaving the country. I called his bluff and sat right across from him. He accepted the 30 USD within a minute. While I was giving him the 30 USD, I reminded him 30 USD is the deal and everyone is watching. He continued to try to intimate me and said don't worry, they all work for me. I gave him the 30 USD and he said goodbye. I left and I don't know if he gave any of the money to the driver. The driver drove past me without stopping. I walked by a school then to the beach to take a couple of pictures and then grabbed a shared taxi back to the airport. The front passenger told me it would cost me 500 CMF. I gave 1 USD and apparently they recognized it was not enough so I gave the 10 KGS I had from last year's trip. It was little less than the 100 CMF difference and they let me pass.
1PM I came back too early but there was nothing to do on this island anyway. I was in this scorching airport for another 2 hours wetting my shirt every 30 minutes because they had no AC.
3PM We finally left this hell hole. The nice Ethiopian airline agent came on board to hand me the voucher for the hotel overnight before departure.
9PM We arrived at Addis Ababa. I used the voucher and got a transit visa to get into Addis Ababa. I didn't know that this transit visa allowed you to go everywhere as long as you get back for the flight.
9AM We reach Comoros. I had to pay for the visa on arrival because the transit visa wouldn't allow me to leave the airport. The visa is 30 EUR or 50 USD. I exchanged my 70 EUR for 100 USD with 2 Americans. This basically reduced their loss to half and let me pocket 10 EUR myself.
10AM I bargained to get a cab to the Grand Mosque for 800 CMF or 2 USD. The driver dropped me by the Grand Mosque, which is not at all grand and then drove me to Le Coraya for lunch. I thought about getting the tuna for 6,500 CMF. I ended up switching to lobster for 10,000 CMF. The driver came back to fight about 2 USD to say that he misunderstood me and wanted 8 EUR. I let the fat Indian manager translate for me.
It wasn't totally resolved and I ran into another issue. Despite asking 3 times about using the credit card, the fat Indian manager is now saying he hasn't had a credit card machine for 2 years. I was getting into it with him. He wanted to exchange USD at 350 CMF for USD, making lunch 32 and rounding up to 33 USD. I offered him 30 USD and he said no. I told him to call the police and he tried to bluff and asked his employee to call. The driver signaled to me not to call the police since I was leaving the country. I called his bluff and sat right across from him. He accepted the 30 USD within a minute. While I was giving him the 30 USD, I reminded him 30 USD is the deal and everyone is watching. He continued to try to intimate me and said don't worry, they all work for me. I gave him the 30 USD and he said goodbye. I left and I don't know if he gave any of the money to the driver. The driver drove past me without stopping. I walked by a school then to the beach to take a couple of pictures and then grabbed a shared taxi back to the airport. The front passenger told me it would cost me 500 CMF. I gave 1 USD and apparently they recognized it was not enough so I gave the 10 KGS I had from last year's trip. It was little less than the 100 CMF difference and they let me pass.
1PM I came back too early but there was nothing to do on this island anyway. I was in this scorching airport for another 2 hours wetting my shirt every 30 minutes because they had no AC.
3PM We finally left this hell hole. The nice Ethiopian airline agent came on board to hand me the voucher for the hotel overnight before departure.
9PM We arrived at Addis Ababa. I used the voucher and got a transit visa to get into Addis Ababa. I didn't know that this transit visa allowed you to go everywhere as long as you get back for the flight.
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